


Hair

by ionica01



Series: Almei week 2017 [4]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: AlMei Week, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Hair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 17:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11765031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ionica01/pseuds/ionica01
Summary: Mei decides to cut her hair, but the task proves more emotionally painful than she had anticipated.Written for day 4 of AlMei week 2017, prompt: Hair





	Hair

Mei stared in the mirror, grabbing the cold handle of scissors off the shelf in the bathroom and feeling the icy iron between her hands, the rough material leaving marks as her hand curled dangerously tight around it. She inhaled deeply, feeling her lungs fill with the humid air of the chamber: she was going to do it. She would cut her hair

She had told Al she would do it last night and, after staring at his soup for a few moments, he looked up at her with a smile that hid a tinge of sadness:

“If you feel like it.” He answered, not pushing the conversation any further. She loved that about him: he understood what she implied and didn’t need having everything spelled out to him.

She pointed the scissors to the roots of her long bangs, widening the space between the two blades as if to cut her hair. She forced her eyes shut as she performed the gesture, feeling the steel against her scalp.

It was her mom that had taught her how to braid her hair like she had it now, in six intricate layers that intertwined with each other in a perfectly symmetrical pattern. Her mother used to do it for her when she was little, and she had later taught her how to do it herself, saying it was something all women of the Chang clan wore.

She had worn her hair like that ever since she could remember, and it had acted both as her fellow and her conscience when she played the role of Princess of Xing. It actually became her trademark, and everyone recognized her after the six  fluttering braids that she left behind with every corner she took or whenever she was in a hurry. She had even taught Lan how to do it as a sign of their close friendship, and it felt like disclosing a highly important secret.

Over the years, her long hair became a memory of her mom and her clan. Every single morning, when she woke up, she did her hair and reminded herself that she was representing the Chang clan. She was their Princess and the only one who could change something for them. And it was her hairstyle that helped carve her duties into her mind. Whenever she felt like she had enough, like she was too tired to continue, the tails pulled at the roots of her hair and the pain brought her back on the right path.

But right now, she wasn’t primarily the Chang Princess, but Alphonse’s wife. No, the Eastern Administrator’s wife, she corrected herself. She had to detach herself from her Xingese duties and attend to her Amestrian ones, as a citizen of this western country. She had sealed her fate the day she had married Alphonse, and she didn’t regret a single thing. Had she been able to relive her life, she would do it all the same.

She was about to close the scissors shut and cause the long braid to fall heavily to the floor, when she suddenly stopped herself. Or rather, she felt like she couldn’t move anymore. 

Other memories flashed before her eyes: she recalled having the same hairstyle when she first came to Amestris and met Alphonse. And not only that, but he also complimented her on these braids of hers, that he considered a true form of art.

Mei knew that Al never considered it necessary for her to make such a sacrifice. He never meant for her to cut ties with her family and past just because he became her husband. He even thought of refusing Mustang’s offer of becoming the Eastern Administrator just so that he wouldn’t have to drag Mei out of Xing. She had been the one to tell him such a thing was out of the question, and that not her needs, but his wants should have dictated his decision.

She lowered the scissors to her shoulders, feeling a strange physical pain at the thought of cutting it all, in a hairstyle similar to Mrs Mustang’s in her late teenage years, as she saw in Winry’s album. But keeping it long was also wrong: a compromise had to be done, and this was the only way around it. She shut her eyes and cut.

The first thing Mei saw when she reopened her eyes were the dark locks scattered over the bathroom floor. They painted the floor in black, but besides their material meaning, they represented her past, now spread out in front of her. Her heart made a somersault at the sight, as Mei felt herself distanced from her life in Xing.

She slowly, fearfully raised her eyes to gaze at her reflection in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize herself: her hair wasn’t bound by the clippers anymore, now flowing freely around her pale face. The unpleasant clutch of her stomach suddenly disappeared, as she straightened her back and smiled at her reflection. This was her life now, she realised as she brushed her hair behind her ears.

She took another half an hour to trim her ends and brush her hair, and then another ten minutes to clean the floor. By the time she had gotten out of the bathroom, Al was standing in front of the doorway, his hand formed in a fist, ready to knock.

When she opened the door, he gaped at her for a few moments before breaking into a wide smile and gently ruffling her hair:

“It suits you.” He finally disclosed, brushing a few wisps behind her ear and caresing the dark locks. She peeked up at him with wide eyes, through uncharacteristically loose hair, and sighed in relief. She had indeed made the right choice.

“Thank you.” She muttered, digging her nails into his back and pulling him in closer for a kiss. She felt his hands clench on the back of her neck through her hair and smiled against his lips.

This was the new Mei: princess of Xing and wife of one of the most important men in Amestris. And she loved every bit of her life.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovely readers!  
> Day 4 of AlMei week is upon us, so here we go. Hopefully you have enjoyed it so far, though my favourite prompt is yet to come...  
> Read, comment, kudos, reread!


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